Significance: The El Tiradito shrine is significant for its role in the development of the rich Hispanic folklore and folk customs that developed in what is now the American Southwest between the time of Spanish contact with indigenous populations in the late sixteenth century to the present day. El Tiradito was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The shrine was founded upon the site marking the resting place of an individual who died a sudden and violent death. Initially only those who came to pray for the soul of the individual buried there visited the site. However, the burial site soon became popular, as the individual called El Tiradito was thought to posses the ability to answer personal prayers. The tradition of leaving an offering along with a prayer developed and has continued to today. The shrine remains an important landmark, as petitioners continue to seek solace and memorialize departed loved ones there.
The Hispanic folk customs represented by El Tiradito are an example of Sonoran Catholicism, a term used to describe the blending of Catholic doctrine with local customs within the Arizona-Sonora borderlands, resulting in local saints and rituals.
The customs and circumstances associated with the shrine are similar to others located in northern Mexico, but El Tiradito is the only known example of its kind remaining in the United States. The shrine maintains a high level of integrity regardless of the aesthetic changes that have occurred over time (see History below), as it still functions according to its original intention.
El Tiradito is an important element of the surrounding Hispanic cultural landscape that is preserved in Barrio Libre, a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district, while home to a diversity of ethnicities, was historically the predominant Spanish-speaking district within Tucson. It was only in the middle of the nineteenth century, when Arizona was established as a territory of the United States, that the non-Hispanic population in the area increased. The cultural landscape preserved in Barrio Libre includes vernacular architectural forms, based on the adobe Sonoran rowhouse. Additional folk elements include colorful wall murals and yard shrines.
El Tiraditos role within the community evolved and gained meaning as a focal point for activism against the destruction of historic, predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods as a result of urban renewal programs implemented by the City in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Call Number:
HALS AZ-8

Medium:
Data Page(s): 15

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